Opinion: Grooveshark attempt to find identity of anonymous blogger pointless and threat to free speech

For reasons that defy logic, Grooveshark is trying to force Digital Music News to identify a blogger who claimed to work for Grooveshar, writes Mike Masnick in techdirt. -db Masnick argues that the ill-advised attempt could run up against the First Amendment. -db From a commentary in techdirt,  May 1, 2012, by Mike Masnick. Full [...]

White House suppresses news about Obama trip to Afghanistan

After an early report that President Barack Obama was going to Afghanistan on the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden to sign an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the White House mounted a campaign to delete the report and to deny the trip in the interest of protecting the president’s life. -db [...]

News organizations object to Romney decision to exclude BuzzFeed from media pool

The Romney campaign decision to determine which media groups should be in the media pool was not well received by the news industry. Traditionally, the media itself decides who should be part of the pool and produce reports that are shared. The campaign wants to exclude the website BuzzFeed from the pool covering their activities. [...]

Cornell censors student newspaper before visit by prospective students

An employee of Cornell University tore the cover off 30 to 40 copies of the April Fools’ edition of The Cornell Daily Sun to keep prospective students from seeing it. The newspaper is not funded by the university. -db From the Student Press Law Center, May 2, 2012, by Emily Summars. Full story  

ACLU appeals to Guantanamo commission to allow defendants to testify about torture

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Guantanamo Bay military commission to allow defendants to give details of their detention and treatment at the hands of the CIA and the military. The government claims that any testimony and the CIA’s interrogation would be classified and not for public dissemination. Defendants are scheduled to appear [...]

Federal appeals court: City worker wins prior restraint ruling in bid to help fired colleague

A mayor lost a round in federal appeals court over the firing of an employee, Keri Williams, and an attempt to muzzle the employee’s colleague, Lindsey Whitney, whom he ordered not to speak out for Williams. The appeals panel ruled that, in fact, the mayor committed prior restraint in violating Whitney’s First Amendment rights. -db [...]

California: St. Helena planning group may have violated open meeting law with e-mails

In sending an e-mail to the director about layoffs in the St. Helena Planning Department, a commissioner sent a copy to fellow commissioners, an alleged violation of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. The law prevents a majority of a legislative body from communicating outside a public meeting. -db From the  St. Helena [...]

California: Autodesk sues to stop online falsehoods that endanger employees

Autodesk filed a lawsuit seeking the source of anonymous postings containing false information about the company, some of which could endanger employees working in the Middle East. One posting claimed that an employee in the Middle East was interested in starting a porn business and that a second employee was gay. -db From the Marin [...]

Times Square strip club sues CBS News for defamation

The Cheetah Club, a New York strip club in Times Square, is suing CBS News for a story that the club is the headquarters for a mob scheme to import women from other countries to work as strippers. Club owners claim that federal authorities said The Cheetah Club was never a focus of their investigation [...]

The future of journalism: Nebraska center of experiment in flying drone journalism

With a green light for innovation in journalism, Matt Waite, a University of Nebraska professor, is rallying forces to harness flying drones to gather the news. Waite thinks the potential is there for reporters to go on the scene of a disaster or protest and have a drone overhead sending images increasing the speed and [...]

Opinion: U.S. should release report on torture after 9/11

The people should know how torture or “enhanced interrogation” became the policy of the United States in the fight against terrorism and its effectiveness, argues a Los Angeles Times editorial. Former government officials and U.S. lawmakers differ in opinion about the effectiveness of the policy, and the people should have the information needed to determine [...]

Chicago pledges not to enforce eavesdropping law during NATO summit

Chicago police won’t enforce Illinois’ controversial eavesdropping law during the NATO summit in May. The law makes it a felony to record a police officer without his or her consent. Thousands of protesters are expected to descend on Chicago to protest the summit, and civil rights advocates feared that police could use the eavesdropping law [...]

Request for public documents on ‘Fast and Furious’ operation yields blank pages

The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms are stonewalling a CBS News investigation into its “Fast and Furious” operation which used “gunwalking,” the selling of guns to arms traffickers to track down leaders of Mexican drug cartels. No cartel leaders have been arrested and many of the weapons have been found at crime scenes in [...]

Free press limited to precious few countries

A report to be released on May 1 in recognition of World Press Freedom Day shows that around the world reporters are killed and news agencies harassed with impunity. Even the United States came in for criticism for widespread arrests of journalists covering the Occupy protests. -db From a commentary for the First Amendment Center, [...]

Federal appeals court rules that American Israel committee did not defame former director

The D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee did not defame its former foreign policy director when it criticized his behavior during a federal investigation into an alleged leaking of classified information to him from a Pentagon employee in 2005. -db From the Courthouse News Service, April 30, 2012, by [...]

Times editorial: Public has right to know what super PACs spend on TV political ads

The Federal Communications Commission should require broadcasters to post their political ad sales on a national database to allow the public to know how much super PACs are spending and for what candidates and causes, argues a New York Times editorial. The broadcasters say the requirement would be too expensive and time-consuming. -db From an [...]

Opinion: ‘Liking’ of a Facebook page should qualify for First Amendment protection

A federal judge ruled against workers in a sheriff’s office who claimed they were fired for supporting his opponent in an election. The judge found no evidence that the sheriff knew the extent of their support and what he did know, that there was a “liking” of the opponent’s Facebook page, did not qualify for [...]

Federal court order for release of classified document creates hope

A federal court order that a classified document on the U.S. negotiating position in free trade talks must be released under the Freedom of Information Act will be appealed. But, writes Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News, the court’s rare order gives hope to those opposed to government overclassification. -db From a commentary in Secrecy News, [...]

Free speech: University of California students win ruling in tuition increase protest

A federal judge ruled that the University of California, Berkeley students were possibly the victims of discrimination when, rather than just receiving citations, they were arrested for protesting budget cuts and tuition hikes while sitting in at Wheeler Hall. The students claimed they were jailed for exercising their First Amendment rights to protest. -db From [...]

California: ‘Free spirit’ claims First Amendment protection in signing traffic ticket ‘Love Heals!’

A Marin County man, who goes by the name of Sierra Tunafish George Salin, found that the El Dorado County highway patrol were not amused by his signing his traffic ticket “LoveHeals!” They issued a warrant for his arrest. “This is a basic judicial impingement of my First Amendment free speech and expression, and a [...]

Federal judge backs Obama in his refusal to release bin Laden photos

President Barack Obama won a battle in federal court this week when the judge rejected a request from Judicial Watch to force the administration to release photos and video of the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year. The judge refused to overrule the CIA  and Defense Department in its claim that [...]

$13.8 million judgment in Texas defamation trial over anonymous posts

After found not guilty of sexual assault of a woman in their Texas community, a couple were attacked anonymously on Topix, accused of drug abuse and dealing, murder and encouraging pedophilia. The couple was forced to move out of town, and the wife lost her business. After Topix helped the couple find the identity of [...]

Opinion: Chicago Tribune trusts local news coverage to ‘robots and content farms’

The Chicago Tribune fired 20 of its journalists and  employed a local company called Journatic to provide its local news, Mathew Ingram of GigaOM is asking if that outfit is just another “content farm” using robotic methods of complying the news. Some warn that using robots to provide news results in meaningless data while  others [...]

Indiana: School sued for suspending students for Facebook posts violating bullying policy

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana is suing a school in federal court for suspending three eighth grade girls for Facebook posts the school says violated their policies on bullying, harassment and intimidation. The ACLU says the posts which discuss which of the girls’ classmates they would kill were made entirely in jest and [...]

Opinion: Son of late Nevada governor harassing reporter in court

Jeff Guinn, the son of the late Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, is so unhappy with the reporting of a lawsuit brought against him by investors that he is suing the reporter claiming she was bribed with personal favors to pursue the story. The problem is that even after losing in lower court, Guinn has appealed [...]

Opinion: Suggestions made for saving news industry

Speakers at a conference for media executives urged them to bolster the bottom line by radically changing the way they presented the news. Among their suggestions were to provide more context for and linkages to the news; provide more analysis; and employ alternatives to the narrative form, e.g., “Fusion Tables and query strings, status updates [...]

Marine discharged after posting anti-Obama comments on Facebook

To preserve the integrity of the chain of command, the commanding general for the San Diego region, ordered Sgt. Gary Stein to receive an other-than-honorable discharged from the Marine Corps. Stein had established an Armed Forces Tea Party page on Facebook and posted disparaging comments about President Barack Obama. The case has led to a [...]

First Amendment: Prom dress put on rack for resembling Confederate flag

School administrators were right to bounce a Tennessee high school student from her prom for wearing a dress resembling a Confederate flag, argues Ken Paulson for the First Amendment Center. Paulson said the school administrators were acting on the reality that the Confederate flag is divisive and could easily lead to disruption at the prom. [...]

Florida judge releases court records in Trayvon Martin shooting case

News organizations won a victory in a Florida court as the judge unsealed the court records in the prosecution of George Zimmerman. In the interests of a fair trial, Zimmerman’s defense team asked that the records be sealed, and a judge who since recused herself agreed to seal them. -db From the Reporters Committee for [...]

Former Alaska senate candidate sues to force journalists to disclose sources

Unhappy with his loss in Alaska’s recent senate race after winning the Republican primary, Joe Miller has brought suit against forces he considers guilty of bringing him down and to seek damages related to his loss. He accused a former employer of leaking that he gained access to a colleagues’ computer to pad poll results [...]

Judge rules for professional football star fighting attempts of company to end contract over controversial tweet

Pittsburg Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall won a round against Hanesbrands for ending his contract to promote their sportswear when the player posted a tweet protesting how people were celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden. A federal judge ruled for Mendenhall, finding that the contract could only be ended if the player did something [...]

Federal judge orders former CIA official to forfeit book earnings

A federal judge ruled for the CIA on a dispute over the profits of a book a whistleblower wrote without the  agency’s permission. The whistleblower said the book contained no classified information, and its profits were donated to accounts belonging to children of U.S. soldiers killed in action. -db From The Washington Post, April 20, [...]

Opinion: Newspapers may be able to capitalize on exposés

In the wake of The New York Times scoop on Walmart’s alleged bribery of Mexican officials, Felix Salmon of Reuters suggests that it would not have been unethical for the Times to make money on the story by selling it to hedge funds a day before publication. -db From a commentary for Reuters, April 24, [...]

Filmmaker seeks documents of death of news director for Spanish-language TV

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education fund filed a writ of mandate to force the Los Angeles County sheriff to release documents in the death of journalist Ruben Salazar caused by a tear gas projectile after a peaceful rally. The Office of Independent Review found the sheriff’s department made errors in choice of weapons [...]

Opinion: Terrorism conviction criminalizes speech

The recent conviction of a U.S. citizen for material support for terrorism should be overturned, writes Andrew F. March, a Yale political scientist, in a commentary in The New York Times. March argues that the citizen, a pharmacist by the name of  Tarek Mehanna, was convicted for his thoughts and speech protected by the First [...]

Manning defense team says secrecy demolishes chances of fair trial

Attorneys for Pfc. Bradley Manning, charged with espionage for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, are charging that the federal prosecutors are withholding documents needed for a defense. Manning’s attorneys say that they have been frustrated in their attempts to gain access to official “damage assessments” that provide details on the actual damages of the leaks [...]

Federal court rules against policeman protesting arrest quotas

A New York policeman who criticized the quota system for arrests lost his case in federal district court. The man claimed the police department violated his First Amendment rights by retaliating against him for criticizing the quota system to commanding officers, but the judge ruled that under the Supreme Court ruling Garcetti v. Ceballos pubic [...]

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow files anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss $50 million defamation lawsuit

MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow is filing an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss a $50 million defamation lawsuit brought by the conservative preacher and radio host Bradlee Dean who claimed that Maddow distorted Dean’s stance on gays implying that he wanted to see them killed. Maddow’s lawyers argued that Maddow’s on air comments were “classic opinion and [...]

Alabama bans ‘Dirty Bastard’ beer

Claiming that the label “Dirty Bastard Beer” is profane, Alabama has banned the beer to protect the state’s children. -db From The Five, April 21, 2012, by David Allen Ibsen. Full story  

Free speech: Federal judge throws out charges against retired professor for ‘jury nullification’

A federal judge ruled that a retired chemistry professor was within his rights to stand outside a federal courthouse in Manhattan and urge jurors to vote their conscience rather than follow the law. The judge wrote that such general petitioning did not constitute jury tampering. -db From The New York Times, April 19, 2012, by [...]

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